THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014

Hi,

Some years ago the  morning papers carried out a news item on what it meant ,when Mamata Banerjee in the middle of the Singur crisis decided to wield a brush and paint. The newspaper carried out interpretations by Psychotherapists who said that this was an impulse that suggested an immaturity of sorts , a childlike urge to shout and throw a tantrum when in dire straits .. I would have thought that she is resorting to a leisurely exercise thereby benefitting from the same , getting energised , de stressed and rejuvenated . The experts shattered this feel -good interpretation and attributed it to her being dim witted.

It set me thinking and I realised that would it really matter if we concretised and technicalised our very fine, abstract and beautiful emotions? If we start this process of psychoanalysing and then verbalising these beautiful ,non-lingual acts of leisure and passion ,then we lay ourselves bare and naked ;for so much of what we do will be a tell tale of our psyche, our inner world which we guard so fiercely and to top it all it may not be a correct analysis.Human mind and its entire thought process is so complicated and dynamic that it cannot limit itself to any one psychoanalytic interpretation. I am not trying to speak on behalf of Mamata Banerjee but for all those who manifest a queer yet unique  streak in their behaviour . 

Whether one wields a paintbrush or sings to oneself ,whispers or murmurs, cries or broods  these are all means to get rid of what bothers us . Fears anxieties and insecurities are toxins that need to be eliminated out of our system .And we have an access to this  survival kit- be your own person .

Haven't you felt revolted to advice , tips and those unwanted unsolicited manuals on how to do things , like beat stress, manage time , love better, earn friends and make money .How can people know more than you? After all you are the best one to know your affairs and it is not true that what holds good for one will be equally right for the other person .This is an invisible imposter in our lives who through the medium of print controls us . 

Be yourself !
cheers ! much more to learn !

Hi,

Some years ago the  morning papers carried out a news item on what it meant ,when Mamata Banerjee in the middle of the Singur crisis decided to wield a brush and paint. The newspaper carried out interpretations by Psychotherapists who said that this was an impulse that suggested an immaturity of sorts , a childlike urge to shout and throw a tantrum when in dire straits .. I would have thought that she is resorting to a leisurely exercise thereby benefitting from the same , getting energised , de stressed and rejuvenated . The experts shattered this feel -good interpretation and attributed it to her being dim witted.

It set me thinking and I realised that would it really matter if we concretised and technicalised our very fine, abstract and beautiful emotions? If we start this process of psychoanalysing and then verbalising these beautiful ,non-lingual acts of leisure and passion ,then we lay ourselves bare and naked ;for so much of what we do will be a tell tale of our psyche, our inner world which we guard so fiercely and to top it all it may not be a correct analysis.Human mind and its entire thought process is so complicated and dynamic that it cannot limit itself to any one psychoanalytic interpretation. I am not trying to speak on behalf of Mamata Banerjee but for all those who manifest a queer yet unique  streak in their behaviour . 

Whether one wields a paintbrush or sings to oneself ,whispers or murmurs, cries or broods  these are all means to get rid of what bothers us . Fears anxieties and insecurities are toxins that need to be eliminated out of our system .And we have an access to this  survival kit- be your own person .

Haven't you felt revolted to advice , tips and those unwanted unsolicited manuals on how to do things , like beat stress, manage time , love better, earn friends and make money .How can people know more than you? After all you are the best one to know your affairs and it is not true that what holds good for one will be equally right for the other person .This is an invisible imposter in our lives who through the medium of print controls us . 

Be yourself !
cheers ! much more to learn !

Going through a book titled 'Fit for Life' by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond . It destroys all dietary theories that i have grown up with!

It is so very difficult to change ones pattern in eating and drinking , especially in ones later life , yet this man is so convincing, cannot resist reading it to the last.

Wonder what is it that is good to eat , especially today when everything from milk, fruits and cereals is infested with chemicals and preservatives !

Any suggestions ?

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Runaway daughtersWe’ve forgotten to wait patiently for the beautiful butterfly to emerge from the cocoon itself instead of rushing through and breaking it open, killing the life inside. Let it handle its transition, says ANJU MUNSHIFirst Ashok Todi, then Chiranjeevi and now Sweetie Sahu’s father. Runaway daughters declaring a coup against their fathers, seeking police protection for fear of their lives are not only becoming repetitive on the TV screens and in print but are also stirring discomfort in parenting circles. While the Todi methodology was questionable, dad Chiranjeevi exercised judicious self-restraint. Could these situations have been better handled if parents had brought up their growing children better? Or is this a mental make-up built over the years, a prejudice for class and religion that has the final say? To raise children and then to deal with these very young adults in today’s environment is another name for delicate diplomacy, where offering a non-judgmental ear and a sympathetic heart works better, and where talking pays dividends. To build up mutual trust and confidence in one’s daughters and sons, even if the pride goes to the altar is a principle that all of us, as parents, have adhered to, have read so much about and have been striving to achieve. Then where are things going wrong? We live in a country where honour killings, infanticide, police-goon nexus are quite common. Class and caste are still burning issues. Hostility between different religious segments and a prejudice that multiplies manifold in case of marital alliances is a kind of a cultural compulsion that we all have been living with. It is not that interfaith marriages have not been taking place in recent years, they do, but not without creating a flutter; in the longer run, with persistence these sticky issues do get resolved. A little bit of flexibility on either side eases the situation. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen most of the time. Parental opposition is in fact worsening with times, say counselors and experts in this field. Where lies the problem? Jolly Laha, a psychoanalyst associated with Kolkata’s Samikshani, a centre for psyco-analytical studies and mental therapy, says: “Today’s parents are mere providers and suffer from a protective instinct; as a result of which they don’t allow their children to make mistakes and thus hamper their growth. One should bring them up with an ability to make them feel responsible for their own actions. It is important for them to make mistakes, be punished in classrooms and also falter at times. A strong analytical ability works wonders. If you make all their decisions right from their childhood, they lose the competence to decide things in their favour and for their good even after reaching adulthood. They grow up to marry a person of their choice, without knowing the repercussions and it is too late for you as parents to put your foot down. You have to let go. “Right from young age children need to understand that they cannot be protected all their lives by their parents. Teach your kids from an early stage to be responsible for their actions and to face the consequences; help them find themselves and evolve at their levels, failing which resistance later in life will only worsen maters. You need to learn to be your own critic as others cannot do this job for you.” So then the problem lies in giving all and also the best, thanks to the consumer boom. The word “No” has no place in today’s parenting. Best clothes, good cars, designer holidays ~ you get them all if they ask for it. A simple thing like going to nani’s or dadi’s house in ones vacations has been replaced with going to Europe or Bangkok. Affordability has led to over-protection. The young adult today has it all laid out before him. He is deprived of ways to find himself, discover his inner-self. His school, his friends his social atmosphere is all predetermined. Parents may not realise when they overstepped their role. “Even if you are doing it for their own good, consider that it may not truly be in their interest”, says Laha. Sometimes failure or emotional hurt is the best teacher. Ease up on the reins and let the young adults take more responsibility for themselves is the advise given by experts. It can also be argued that some things can never change and that there is a recognisable clash between two generations which is a timeless and placeless phenomenon and is nothing new. It is relating the same story with different characters. It is the story of any adolescent, trapped between his parents’ culture and the dominant culture of the place where he or she is raised ~ a new changed environment from what the parents have known and lived in. Priyanka, Srija and Sweety, belonging to rich, influential, conservative and strict families, lived in a culture that wasn’t theirs, they followed what was chosen for them, right from the best schools and colleges to the code of conduct. They went to good schools (some even go abroad to study), mixed openly with their peers, were forthright and expressive and like any youngster were trying to maintain themselves within their own traditions. Yet, they were driven by an understandable teenage need for romance and recognition seeking to escape from “authority”. While the paternal side is sensitive on issues of religion society pride and class, the youngsters are vocal about declarations of freedom and moral self-righteousness. This emerging situation is nowhere close to providing a fertile ground from which healthy relationships can be plucked. So does it mean that cases of mistrust and hatred between fathers and their offsprings will multiply, considering that no one wants to give in? The psychoanalysts find parents to be a study in contradiction. “On one side, they want the best education for their children without widening their own horizon, and on the other, they want them to stick to the traditional groove, thereby failing to navigate situations in an era of westernisation,” says Laha. She also finds that parents today suffer from a peer pressure of a sort, where their children need to have better lifestyle than their peers. “In a race to give them the best, like designer holidays, designer outfits and good life, deep down they are not comfortable and suffer from anxiety.” Double standard, over protection and peer stress has created a confused generation, that which is caught between the East and the West; the feelings of insecurity and rebelliousness amongst the children translate into breaking away from all ties. For Priyanka, who lived amongst comfortable patterns, love arrived with its own baggage. As a daughter of an indulgent father, who gave in to her demands however big or small, she secretly knew that one day Rizwanur would be accepted and her father would come around. She went ahead and got married in the hope that things would soon cool down and be sorted out. On this assurance and with limitless patience, she called Rizwanur the last time asking him to wait till things became normal, to which he said that he would wait forever. It is good to take the Todi incident as a piece of warning, a warning to change and upgrade with times and to allow the children to grow up on their own. Todi and his daughter are not alone in this. Most of us, recipients of this ancient primitive code of conduct that has failed to get upgraded with time can join him and may have had similar experiences but which never got known to the outside world. We still treat our eighteen year olds as kids, give in to their whims, hold their little finger right up to their marriage and through it also, subject the girl and the boy to astrological compatibility tests before they get married. Family pride, social standing has frayed the edges of this problem even further. The psychoanalysts call for inner guidance, a navigational point of reference, to give freedom from authority, to reinforce the lost art of communication where resolution, rather than confrontation and suppression, works better . With times and with a hectic pace of living where one beats the rats also in their race one seems to have forgotten the lesson that we learnt so hard of clearing the air, the famous mantra of just letting them be, to wait patiently for the beautiful butterfly to emerge from the cocoon itself instead of rushing through and breaking it open, killing the life inside. Let it handle its transition, a magical metamorphosis! Love is not only blind but has also been destructive in our cultural milieu. Priyanka would have known this by now. It is sad to think that she will have to live with the guilt of playing with her husband’s life and now putting her father’s at the altar too. She herself cannot be envied for what she is into, rather one could equate her to the heroine of a Greek tragedy where the ruling emotions are that of pity and fear. How far have we come from yesteryears? (The author is a freelance contributor)

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Focus: PLAYING TO THE GALLERY Art appreciation and entrepreneurship have resulted in a spurt of women-headed art galleries, writes Anju Munshi GOING by the way art galleries headed by women are mushrooming in metros today, it would seem that art appreciation, entrepreneurship and women go together well. It is boom time for art, indeed, especially Indian art, and enterprising modern women are responding to the market enthusiastically. To launch an art gallery, all it needs is some good space, an artistic inclination, an interactive ability and reasonably good foresight.For those artistically inclined, it provides the opportunity to do what they like doing. It also gives them enough freedom to expand their intuitive sense of style. Gayatri Sinha, art critic and curator, finds the trend of being an “Indian feminine art entrepreneur in a patriarchal structure an extremely powerful statement”.There were times when an art gallery was gifted to a wife by a well-stacked husband on an anniversary or birthday, whether she had a passion for art or not. That has changed. Today it’s the economics that drives her to open her own gallery. Women with enough time and resources are channelising their skills more professionally. The good news is that they are doing well, too.The list of the women art entrepreneurs is long: Tina Ambani and Avanti Birla are associated with their art galleries in Mumbai, Harmony and Articulate respectively; Renu Modi of Espace, Delhi; and many of them from Kolkata, like Smita Bajoria of Ganges; Ambika Beri of Sanskriti;, Manju Sen of mon and the well-known Katayun Saklat of Gallery Katayun, etc. They have one thing in common — they work hard and go that extra mile to find artists, promote them and create an outlet to showcase their own personal skill in the field.For these women, the art world is like an extension of their own personality. “Love of beauty and balance and brain are all put into use together,” asserts Nisha Singh, who has recently joined hands with Saklat to open K2gallery in Kolkata. The truth of the matter is that women, especially in Kolkata, owing to their proximity to places like Santiniketan, Chandannagore, etc, have been exposed to the art scene for years. They may have patronised artists by buying their work. “They started as buyers and now have turned into sellers,” says Aban Desai, whose Tejas Art Gallery in Kolkata is just two years old. These informal art dealers kept personal contact with the artists and their slowly branching into becoming agents and starting their own galleries was the next step. To what many men saw as a mode of investment, women have added aesthetics and a personal touch. “She has more patience and time; art appreciation comes with experience and exposure,” adds Desai.Chitrakoot has the distinction of being the first art gallery in Kolkata. It was established in 1984 by Sumitra Kejriwal and her husband, Prakash and today boasts of the largest collections of early and recent Bengali art. Bikash Bhattacharjee, Jogen Choudhary, Jamini Roy, Ganesh Pyne — you name it and Chitrakoot has it. Another name that spells respect in the art circle is that of Katayun Saklat, who has been in this field for over 20 years. An alumni of Government Art College and Indian Art College in Kolkata, as well as a student of London-based Patrick Reyntiens, she is perhaps one of those art dealers who could have become a leading artist herself. Saklat is known to encourage new artists, many of whom have blossomed into renowned names. “I decided to become the conduit between those artists and potential buyers,” Saklat says. Looking back, she is not only happy but eager to open more such galleries to promote budding talent. “Here we tread on different grounds, creating a dance between colour, texture, vision and firm business,”she says. Gallerie 88, Kolkata, run by Supriya Banerjee, and Cima owned by Rakhi Sarkar, have renowned artists from across the country on their rolls, including works by MF Hussain, Amrita Sher-Gill, Manjit Bawa and Raza. These galleries also keep specialised works from the Society of Contemporary Artists, including Shyamal Dutta Ray, Amitava Banerjee, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Sunil Das and Suhash Roy. For Jyotsana David, Gallery 51 in Kolkata started as part of her social work being associated with an NGO, Interlink, that dealt with mentally retarded children. She helped them learn performing and visual arts and got involved with the art world. After some time, with the knowhow and the exposure, she opened her own gallery and finds the whole experience very satisfying.A notable gallery run very successfully from Kolkata and New Delhi by a woman is Gallery Sanskriti. Protracted debates with her family over art in the course of a museum visits; an unshakable belief that art must not necessarily be beautiful to look at; that good art attempts to spark interest, ignite discussion and provoke critical thinking helped strengthen Ambica Beri’s resolve to launch Gallery Sanskriti in Kolkata in 1990. Later, in 1996, she opened one in New Delhi too. Exhibitions apart, Ambica’s art camps are a perfect meeting ground for painters, sculptors, students, and art lovers. However, there is also talk of exploitation of artists. Saklat does not deny it. “It happens when bulk art is bought by discerning patrons and once the price spirals the gallery makes money, but the artist gains nothing.” She believes that one should help the new artists either by introducing them to the right galleries or by buying their work at the right price and not hoard them and wait for the prices to shoot. Shilajit Ghosh, a well-known artist who commands a good price, finds that art in our society is not a commercial mainstream activity but a fringe one. Wives of moneyed people with space want to be affiliated with the art market. Even though some artists find the whole gallery business a form of “exploitative gimmicking” and prefer less price rather than sacrifice “freedom”, Shilajit says that “women gallery owners come as a respite because their basic nature helps them get a better insight into the psyche of the artists and they generally are more honest in money matters”. The online art market is also manned by women successfully. “It took five years but Indian art’s online market has caught up finally,” says Minal Vazirani, co-founder of Saffronart, an Indian art dealer organisation that claims to be one of the largest global auctioneers of Indian art, which runs galleries in Mumbai and New York and is also the pioneer of online auctions of Indian art.Obviously, women art connoisseurs could not have had it better. — Trans World Features.
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carefully careless

The Statesman 17.1.09


Carefully careless
Keep it simple. Anju Munshi feels the pulse of the fashion consciousYou may consider yourself fashionable but that’s not enough. You have to sport the look of the day. The messed-up look tops popularity charts. In other words, the art of looking carefully careless is finding takers. So it makes sense to bring out those torn jeans out of your closet, wear wrist-bands with messages instead of heavy gold bangles, coat your eyes dark and deep, and not thin and perfectly lined. For the men the unshaven look is in. Welcome to the new age mantra which flaunts the attitude, ‘Who cares?’ Trends say yes to low-slung trousers or torn jeans; untidy mass of hair, clumped together that pines for a comb in place of neatly styled hair. Ankita Taplu, a 22-year-old fashion designer from Delhi, is certain that such looks go well with youngsters. “Unspoken words have power. Similarly, minimalist code in clothes is bound to flaunt a winning streak. Dressing up is an attitude and your dress details is a tell-tale sign of your personality and behaviour.” The trick is to project a style that is also a subtle reminder of your personality. At least for now, heavy, ornate jewellery matching your outfit is out. One big pendant, one stunning bracelet, or out-of-the-ordinary leather earrings is what one is expected to wear. Berit Steffin, an Austrian designer recognised globally for her creations in contrasts and who is also associated with Kolkata’s Vizyon as a consultant, finds that, in general, Indians “wear everything together” thereby failing to make an impact. “Even jewellery is overdone when everything from earrings to bracelet is matched. One good single piece is better than aggressive coordination of jewellery,” she says.Arzu Karpol, a known designer from Istanbul, advises, “Think of accessories as a side-wear or as an additional possibility, and not as a complete substitute for a dress.”As for men, Sharbari Dutta, one of Kolkata’s best known designers, says, “You should be the object of conversation, not your clothes.” She also feels that deodorants and perfumes are strong accessories for men rather than clothes. The new trend is also an easy way to save on time and is easy on the pocket.Fashion, however, changes frequently. What is in today, will be out tomorrow. Even politicians are dressing up simple ~ crisp salwar suits with neatly folded dupattas are giving way to trousers and a casual scarf. This became evident when Priya Dutt was dressed in trousers for a Parliament session.

Trans World Features

The person in the woman

Most of the times we hide behind our smiles for it is difficult telling everyone what you feel . As a result of this mindless fear of being rejected in thought and in feeling, we act as others wish of us. We stop being ourselves and lose our identity. I find it revolting and even to some measure stifling. I want to unchain myself from this hurtful garb of being someone else .I want to change into my own skin ,and be who i am. Not to say that i very well know myself . I just got introduced to myself and wow!!! To be yourself should be a release of a kind, to get into your own, so as to say! After years of knowing the synthetic me ,I treasure my new self., layered with dust and grime. I need to clean up . It is as though i was passing a doorway of a world where logic and self esteem take a back seat, i have just crossed the door and have stepped into a new light . i have a new agenda of living with myself , loving myself and exploring my current reality . i also want to dive deep into this realisation and integrate my experiences whether someone understands them or not . In stead of shadow boxing with my fears nurtured over the years , i stand face to face with them and what a delight to see them just melt away !. I am not even thinking about what i did not do and what i could not finish , rather positive feelings seem to bubble from within. Is this aging? an empty nest syndrome? menopausing demons hovering ? wounded self esteem or the gnawing reality of futility in love and living? i don’t know but i can see further into the distance and down on the universe . I must resolve to move on ,fixing my attention on the distance and pushing steadily in that direction.
i am truly empowered in the knowledge of self!




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